The Girl of the Hearth
by FredNeverDied
Summary: My idea for a sequel to the Mark of Athena. This introduces Sophie Keys, who is destined to save the crew of the Argo II. Little does she know that this entails avoiding a forbidden love, fighting in battle every other day, and making the ultimate decision in protecting those she loves. Also includes Annabeth and Percy's adventures in the Underworld, where a familiar face returns.
1. Chapter 1

_So this is an idea I came up with but don't have the time to write. It's up in the air for you to use or to just read right now. Hey, a novel in one page!_

The Girl of the Hearth

A girl names Sophie Sparks finds the crew of the _Argo II_ and says she is from a small, secret order of girls meant to protect the heroes of the Prophecy of Seven. The order was created by Hestia, made up of all the god's daughters, around the same time as the Prophecy surfaced in an effort to keep harmony within the Seven and bring them all safely back to hearth and home. However, the order eventually began to die out as the prophecy went so long unanswered. Of the three "sisters" (or close enough anyway) that were left of the order and set out to find the Seven; Sophie was the only one who lived to complete the journey.

She and Leo meet while she is helping him out with ship-repairs and they quickly hit it off, Sophie being just as spontaneous, funny, and energetic as he is. Eventually Leo shows her his fire powers, expecting her to think him a freak. Instead, Sophie shows him her own fire powers, just like his; a gift from Hestia, (hearth and fire go hand in hand) who became like a mother to her and always considered Sophie a favorite. (Which is the reason why she chose the last name 'Sparks' for herself.) Leo and Sophie develop feelings for each other and are planning to voice them when Ella gives Sophie, Hazel, and Piper a prophecy about one of the so-called "twin fires" destroying the other and bringing down the Seven, which they obviously interpret to mean Leo and Sophie. Piper advises Sophie to avoid Leo at least until their quest is over and not to tell him about the prophecy.

Sophie struggles with hiding her feelings, for while she has a spontaneous nature and does not naturally want to keep secrets, "duty first" has been drilled into her head since birth, and she does not want the recent deaths of her two sisters to have been in vain. Her duty to keep the Seven safe clashes with her feelings for Leo which could get them all killed. She is trying not to grieve for her family but instead, carry on her duty of protecting the Seven for her sisters' memory. However, Sophie could definitely use a pick-me-up pretty often. Often, Leo readily offers this in the form of a shoulder to cry on when she needs it and has that ability to always make her smile as she's feeling better. Of course, this only complicates her feelings worse. Leo's heart, on the other hand, is breaking, as he believes this will _forever_ be an unrequited crush; has no idea why she is avoiding him; and yet only falls harder for Sophie.

All this is going on as they head for what was once the nation of Carthage, sworn enemy of Rome (north Africa-ish on the Mediterranean Sea) where the mortal Door of Death should be. (The Romans didn't want the center of all that evil to be in Rome so they put it in the conquered territory they hated so much.) Along the way, they accidentally pick up the anti-Hephaestus giant who starts tailing them. He is, believe it or not, bent on slowly and painfully killing Leo and whoever might be with him.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth are joined in Tartarus by Luke Castellan who is trying to redeem himself for a chance at the Isle of the Blest. According to Luke, this is his beta-test to see if he can still be a hero on Earth: if he can successfully escort Annabeth and Percy through their quest, he may try for the Isle.

During their journey to the Door of Death within Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth grudgingly forgive him for his past actions after he saves their lives multiple times. As they near the Door, the monster attacks become more and more frequent and Luke is horribly injured in one of the fights. As his body starts to fade away, he tells them he can just barely see what's coming and promises them that he's going to a lead a much better life this time before disappearing.

Annabeth and Percy reach the Door and have to make a stand there for about a week before the crew of the _Argo II,_ closely tailed by anti-Hephaestus & Co., arrive on the other side. There is fighting on both sides of the Door going on; and, now that Luke is gone, they raise the question of who is going to close the door from the inside. Sophie throws her arms around Leo's neck and kisses him before she sprints towards the Underworld entrance, before Leo can object. He runs after her but is confronted with his giant enemy and has to fight with him. The last image Leo sees of her is as she helps pull Annabeth and Percy out from inside and disappears behind the closing Door of Death.

The group later realizes that the prophecy referred to the anti-Hephestus giant who Leo killed. It was because the two were fighting that Sophie managed to carry out her mission, thus breaking Leo's will and bringing down the Seven. They have to leave her behind and carry on towards the end of their quest...


	2. Chapter 2

II

Nico gives himself up to his father, making them both recognize that he is 'supposed' to be dead. He challenges Hades to not let his sacrifice be in vain and to let Sophie go. Hades relents and gives Nico another free pass ("We're at war and anyone could see that you're useful. The other gods will back me up…I hope. Just don't waste it." "And Sophie…?" "Fine, I'll send for her too." Nico breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you. You're the best. _Really_." Hades nodded stiffly and Nico took it as his dismissal; he bowed his head again and turned to go. He was almost to the door when her heard, "Wait, Nico." Nico closed his eyes. _Dammit, so close!_ "Yes sir?' he asked, turning slowly. Hades looked uncomfortable. "Good work," he growled after a moment, finally looking Nico in the eye. There was fierce pride burning in them. "Keep it up, son." A smile tugged at the corner of Nico's mouth. "Thank you sir," he said, bowing again. before exiting the throne room.)

During this time, Leo has been told that Sophie knew all along about the prophecy and is angry that she never told him because it would have definitely been helpful to him. A few days after Nico left them to turn himself in, they are involved in a fight with some monsters and right where the fighting is at its thickest, Sophie and Nico appear and beat them away. Afterwards, as everyone is celebrating the win and Sophie's return, she can't look Leo in the eye as he's glaring at her.

Reasons Leo is more than a little angry: 1) He's not been able to sleep for a month since she died because he's been so sad/angry and then when she appears all happy and healthy again without the trace of apology or regret, it 2) makes him even angrier. 3) Also, she died knowingly messing with his feelings as she kissed him and he's angry about that too. 4) And he really wants her to apologize/kiss him again which she doesn't do immediately. 5) And he's exhausted from manning the helm every night which he does to try to blow off steam but it just makes him grouchier. So Leo is Level 5 angry.

Sophie agrees to take over the helm that night and Leo goes up to find her there. He logs into the system and tells Phestus to question her about her actions while he listens in. Phestus and Sophie have a long discussion where Sophie does try to justify her actions but agrees that she should have told Leo about the prophecy. ("Look Phestus, I know I messed up and you don't get how much I've been beating myself up for it the last month. I never wanted to hurt him. [Phestus] How!? How can I possibly try to make this better!? [Phestus] I can't just go talk to him, he hates me right now, and I deserve every bit of it. It's better if I avoid him. [Phestus] No, not like I did with the prophecy, this is different." "How?" Leo asked. She jumped a whipped around. "You guys can be pretty underhanded when you want to be huh?" "Apparently. But it's also kind of necessary when you'd rather talk to a machine—no offense Phestus—than me."

'"Look I know you're mad and you deserve to be—you _more_ than deserve to be. I get it. Just know that I really, _really_ never meant to hurt you." Leo uncrossed his arms and arched an eyebrow.

"So that's supposed to make it better? Sophie, you took my heart and threw it to Cerberus and _that_'s supposed to fix everything?" She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her feet again.

"Leo, please, I'm sorry, I was just trying to…" And then his lips crashed into hers as he drew her nearer, his arms wrapped around the small of her back like he was never letting go. She'd recovered from her initial surprise in about two nanoseconds and her arms were around his neck again as kissed her. "_That's_ what's going to make it better," he managed to get out. Sophie responded with only more energy,'

One of the conditions to be a Protector of the Hearth was that you were unclaimed by your Greek parent so that the Order could stay neutral. Sophie is "accidentally" released from her promises to the Order when Hermes comes forward and claims her. Thus, she and Leo can be together. Then continue with the Heroes of Olympus as Mr. Riordan would have it, with the added bonus of Leo/Sophie.

* * *

**A/N:** PM me if you want to write this or want me to be your beta for it. If anyone starts writing the story, I want to know so I can follow it I'll hold nothing else to you. Oh yeah, and please use all-canon couples for the rest.

~Freddie


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